Our Kinda Life Special Stories
by ThomasZoey3000
Summary: Various Special Stories of the Our Kinda Life Series.
1. Decorating for the Holidays

Hello there loyal readers, it's been two years since I did the Christmas special for 'My Kinda Life'. So now I am proud to present a Christmas special for the 'Our Kinda Life' series. In this story, Asa is seven months pregnant and Kaede is six months pregnant. This first chapter's date is December 20th 2011, rating is still M and I'm dedicating this chapter to all my friends online and in real life. That's all I have to say, except - Have yourself a Merry Christmas and note that Our Kinda Life will continue in the new year. Enjoy!

_**Our Kinda Life-The Christmas Special**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Episode 1: Decorating for the Holidays**_

"A little more to the left - no a little more to the right. Alright you got it, lay it down Big Bro!" said Naomi. I lowered the tree into it's stand, "perfect, now let's decorate it!" Naomi ran over to the closet where all our decorations and grabbed hold of a box.

"I'd be careful with those if I were you Little Sis," I advised, "we do have some fragile..."

I got no further, cause one of the boxes had fallen on top of Naomi. I ran over to her to see if she was okay. I lifted the box off of her - I started laughing, "you alright Little Sis?" I asked while laughing.

Naomi was covered in tinsel - lots of tinsel, "funny, very funny," she said sarcastically.

"I thought it was funny," I chuckled.

"So do I," giggled another voice, it was Daisy. She and Monty were coming into the living room, they laughed to see Naomi covered in tinsel.

"Maybe you should let Matthew bring down those boxes," said Monty.

"Fine," sighed Naomi.

Naomi stood back while I got the boxes, "just make sure you put every piece of tinsel back in the box Little Sis," I said to her, "I don't want Bridget eating any of that - it's poison to her."

"Sure thing Big Bro," she then looked over to Daisy and Monty, "do you mind giving me a hand here?"

Monty was about to clap, but didn't when another figure came walking into the room with a firm look on his face. It was Marshall, "don't ya even think about it baka," he said angerily to Monty. Then he walked over to Naomi, "it's okay babe, I'll help ya get these off."

"Thanks Marshall," she smiled, "so how are you feeling?"

"I'm okay," he answered, "lucky for me that crappy car didn't break any of me bones when it hit me." Although Marshall had been doing quite well since the accident, he's still walking around with a cane, just to be on the safe side. "Ya know something baby, you look cute with all this tinsel on ya."

Naomi blushed a small shade of red, "you really think so?"

"Heck yeah," he said.

Primula walked into the room with some presents, "what happened to you Little Sis?" she asked, Naomi didn't answer.

"While you guys get started in decorating, I'm going to check on my wife," I said after I got the last box of decorations down from the shelf, "and be careful this time Little Sis," I said with a wink as I walked out of the room.

I walked into the kitchen to find my beautiful wife Kaede making Christmas cookies. She was wearing a red shirt, light blue skirt, pink slippers and her yellow apron. I walked up to her and wrapped my arms around her, "hi Matthew," she said happily.

"Hey Kaede," I said as I gave her a kiss on the left side of her face, "those cookies smell delicous, can I have one?"

"Well of course you can, but you might want to wait a bit - I just took them out of the oven, so they are a little hot. I heard some laughing coming from the living room, what's going on in there?"

"Little Sis," I chuckled, "she was trying to get a box of tinsel down from the top shelf and she ended up dropping it on her. She was covered in tonnes of tinsel." Kaede giggled quietly when she heard that.

She wasn't laughing for long though. She groaned a bit and looked down to her stomach, "are you okay Kaede?" I asked.

"Yes I'm okay," she answered, "it's our baby, it moved," she then grabbed my left hand and placed it on her stomach, "can you feel it Matthew?"

"Yeah I can feel it," I smiled happily.

"What's going on in here?" Naomi asked, "is it the baby again?"

"It is," Kaede nodded, "it moved again," then she asked, "what do you need Naomi?"

"Oh I'm just wondering if Big Bro would like to put the angel on the top of the tree this year."

"You guys can't reach the top of the tree can you?" I asked.

"Nope, not even when Daisy was on Monty's shoulders, they couldn't reach the top of the tree. I wish I was as tall as you Big Bro."

"Then you wouldn't be known as our Little Sis."

"Hmm, good point," she said. It was then we heard the doorbell ring, "I'll get it!" with that said, she ran over to the door. She came back less than a minute later with Asa and Rin.

"Did your baby move again Kaede?" Asa asked. Both Kaede and I nodded our heads at the same time, "how sweet," she smiled.

After a few seconds, Kaede went back to baking while I started putting up decorations around the kitchen, "so do you guys know if your baby's going to be a boy or a girl?"

"No we don't know just yet," Rin answered, "we'll find out next month when we go see the doctor."

"Personally I hope it's a...girl," Asa groaned. Rin ran over to her, "I'm okay Rin, it's just the baby, it's moving again, just feel it." Rin placed his hand on Asa's stomach, he could feel it moving.

"Aww," was all Rin had to say.

"What about you Rin?" I asked, "what do you think your child's going to be?"

"Well I'm also hoping it's going to be a girl," he answered, "but if it's a boy, then that's okay cause I'll still love that child of ours."

"Oh Rin," Asa smiled. Then she walked over to the counter, "Do you mind if I help you bake some Christmas treats?"

"Of course you can help me Asa," Kaede smiled.

"While you two are doing that - Rin, why don't you give me a hand with the outdoor decorations?"

"Sure Matthew," he said and followed me out of the kitchen. Before I went out to the doorway, I walked into the living room and placed the angel on top of the tree. Naomi muttered 'show off' as I walked away, but I pretended like I didn't hear a single word she said.

Once Rin and I had our winter gear on, we got to work in decorating the house. As we got started, I could see our neighbours decorating their houses - they were doing it because of a decoration contest that was going on in our neighbourhood, this is the fifth year it's been going on. For the last three years, Eustoma's always won the contest.

"If he wins that contest again," groaned Rin, "that victory is just going to go straight to his head."

"Tell me something I don't know," I groaned.

"Do you think you might have a chance to win this year?"

"I might, you never know. Although we're not the only ones trying to win this year," as I was saying this, I was looking over to Nerine's house. There were at least a dozen decorations on her house - they started decorating last week. "They might have a chance of winning this year," I called back to Rin, "so tell me Rin, are your decorations up yet?"

"Yep, we put them up yesterday," he answered, "I had no idea that Asa and Ms. Ama had so many decorations."

"How many decorations do you guys have?"

"Enough to fill up every single room," called another voice, it sounded Asa. I looked down towards the doorway and saw Asa standing close by.

"Are you okay Asa?" Rin asked kindly.

"Yeah I'm okay, I just came out to see if you guys were alright."

"Don't worry about us Asa," I called, "we're okay - or least I will be once I attached these cables to the roof."

"It's better to be safe than sorry right?"

"Yep," I nodded as I attached one of the cables to the roof, "so how's Kaede doing?"

"She's doing quite well. We just made another batch of Christmas cookies and now we're helping your sisters, the twins and Marshall with decorating the tree," she giggled at that moment, "when we came into the room, we found Naomi tied up in streamers."

"What?" I asked in shock.

"Yeah, I don't know how that girl got herself into that mess, but somehow - she did."

"Yeah that sounds like Little Sis alright," I chuckled, "she's one of a kind."

"You can say that again," Asa and Rin agreed with me. Asa went back inside while Rin went up another ladder to put up some lights.

As we worked, the wind blew at us, making us shiver. Considering how cold it was, I knew it was going to snow again tonight. We already have at least a foot of snow on the ground right now - it came with a blizzard a few days ago. If you're wondering, I got home long before the blizzard came.

Anyhow, after a hour or so, all the lights had been set up.

"Fantastic work you two," smiled Asa as she and Kaede came out to see how we were doing.

"It looks better than last year's set up," smiled Kaede.

"Do you really think so Kaede?"

"Yes, I do think so," she nodded, "now why don't you two come inside for some hot chocolate?"

"Sure thing - after we try the lights." I plugged in the lights, then I stood back - they looked fantastic! A second or so later, we were blinded by another set of lights, "geez that's bright, where are those lights coming from?"

"Try Sia and Kikyou's place," groaned Rin as he covered his eyes.

We all looked over to Sia's place - there were tonnes of Christmas lights all over the place, and I mean '_tonnes' _of lights, "looks pretty good huh?" asked Eustoma, "I'm sure we'll win the contest for the fourth year in a row."

"He's going to blow a fuse any second now," I said quietly. I looked at my watched and whispered a few numbers - when I stopped counting, all the lights of his house burned out completely.

"What the hell?" he asked in shock.

"Ya blew a fuse!" called Marshall, he and Naomi were standing in the doorway, they had seen everything.

"I told you to not put that many lights out," shouted Sia, "thanks to you, we don't have any power!"

"Sorry," Eustoma said quietly.

"I'll phone for an electrican to come put the power back on at your place," I called as we walked back inside the house.

I was true to my word, once I got my winter gear off, I phoned for an electrican, then I went into the living room to join Kaede, Asa, Rin, Primula, Daisy and the twins for some hot chocolate. As for Marshall and Naomi, they were outside having a snowball war.

They returned a few minutes later - Naomi was covered in snow, "Marshall you're just too good, I can't beat you."

"Ah well, there's always a next time right babe."

"Yep, there's always a next time," she shivered, "hey Kaede, can I have a mug of hot chocolate? I'm freezing here."

Kaede poured some hot chocolate into a mug, put in a couple of marshmellows and handed it to Naomi, "Here you go," she said kindly.

Naomi drank some of the hot chocolate and sighed happily, "That's much better." She then poured some hot chocolate into a mug and gave it to Marshall.

"Damn I'm looking forward to Friday ya know what I'm saying?" Marshall said after a moment of silence.

"Why's that Marshall?" Kaede asked.

"Because there are no classes on that day, we can just party all day long - eating Christmas goodies and watching movies."

"Almost reminds me alot of when I was back in High School," I spoke up, "the day before the Christmas holidays were to begin, all lessons were cancelled and we did nothing but party all day long."

"Whoa Big Bro, you party animal you!" giggled Naomi.

I coughed as I cleared my throat, "to be fare though, for the first two classes of the day, I would go just for the lessons."

"How many students came to the classrooms?" Daisy asked.

"Hmm...roughly around five to seven students. The rest skipped the classes in the morning, then returned to party in the afternoon. I remember in my last year at that school that I hosted a big party in one of the classrooms with tonnes of Christmas music playing, plenty of food and drinks for everyone and of course, we exchanged gifts."

"Sounds great," said Naomi, "so how many people showed up for your party?"

"Roughly around...twenty five people," I answered. After I said that, everyone in the room just looked at me in complete surprise, "yeah I was shocked when I saw that many people come in that day."

Naomi was about to ask a question to Kaede, but she never asked it, "yes Matthew told me that on the chatroom," she said, then she looked over to me, "I also remember reading from your messages that some of your friends helped you take down the decorations after the party was done, am I right?"

"Yep, you're right Kaede. Some of my friends stayed after school and helped me take down the decorations."

"Well that was nice of them," smiled Asa, "sounds like you had a few good friends at that school."

"Yeah I did, but not that many. The few that stuck around to help were Kristy, Andrew Tang and Kristan or as many people knew him - the Anime nut."

"Why was that ploke called an anime nut?" asked Marshall.

"Care to answer that one Naomi?" I asked while looking over to her.

"Sure why not," she said, then she looked over to Marshall, "people called him an 'anime nut' because he knows everything about animes and would talk about them none stop."

"If I remember correctly, you guys got to meet him when we visited that old High School of mine during that big trip last year."

"Oh yeah we did," giggled Naomi, "I was just laughing when I saw that reaction on his face when you told him that you had moved to Tokyo the year before."

"Well to be honest, lots of people had that look on their face when I told them that story."

"Hey, ya shocked me when I was told of your story," said Marshall, "personally I would love to give those parents of yours a piece of me mind."

"It's better if you don't," I said, "you don't want to see them mad. Trust me, I've seen them mad - considering I was living with them for ninteen years and it's not a pretty sight."

After talking for a bit, and after we finished our hot chocolates, we went back to decorating. Rin, Asa, Kaede and I hung streamers around the house while our three sisters, the twins and Marshall went out to do some Christmas shopping. As Kaede was looking threw one of the containers, she found something which made her blush. She got up, walked over to the doorway and hung it up.

"Hey Kaede, what are you doing?" I asked.

"Look up," she said with a smile on her face.

I looked up and smiled, "Mistletoe," I said quietly. I stared into Kaede's beautiful blue eyes while she stared into mine, our lips came closer and closer until they connected and we kissed. Asa and Rin were watching us from a distance, they didn't say a single word - they didn't want to ruin our moment.

Kaede and I kissed for about three minutes before we seperated. Her cheeks were bright red and so were mine.

"You don't mind if I hang it up there do you?" Kaede asked.

"I don't mind at all, I think it's a perfect place for it," I answered, I then whispered into her right ear, "I love you Kaede."

"And I love you too Matthew," she whispered into my right ear.

After that, Kaede and I went back to work decorating the house, with Asa and Rin's help until around five thirty when we had finished.

"Wow!" smiled Asa as she looked around, "This place looks great - hey Kaede, are you sure you don't have anymore decorations for us to put up?" Kaede giggled and shook her head.

"You just love to decorate a house don't you?" Rin asked her.

"You bet I do," she smiled at her husband, "it's a lot of fun," she giggled happily.

It was then that our sisters, the twins and Marshall returned. They weren't alone though as Lance was with them, "we ran into him at the mall," said Naomi, "and I invited him over, hope that's okay."

"Of course it is," said Kaede, "your brother's more than welcome to come here anytime he wants."

"Thanks Kaede," smiled Naomi, "I have to say that you four did a fantastic job while we were out. This place looks great."

"It almost reminds of one of 'em Santa Villages," said Marshall, "granted me family never took me to one of 'em places, ya know how them plokes are."

"Yes we know," I muttered. Sometime after Marshall woke up, we met his family and let me tell you this, they make Charlie Banks, Ivy and Naomi's horrible rotten parents like nice people (which they are not).

"Still, I'm looking forward to this Christmas cause I get to spend it with my favourite baby," he said as he looked over to Naomi, he then winked at her - which made her blush again, although she tried hiding her face, "I can see ya blushing babe," Marshall chuckled, "come on, ya don't need to hide your face from me."

Naomi looked over to Marshall with her cheeks blushing and a smile on her face, then she giggled happily, "okay so I'm blushing."

She walked up to the tree and then placed some presents under the tree, "Now remember," she said firmly, "no peaking!"

"Very well, just make sure you follow your own advice," I chuckled as I walked out of the room.

When I got up to the bedroom, I found that it had been decorated with streamers on the Computer desk, above the doorway, on the bookcase and above the closet door. There was also a small Christmas tree sitting next to my monitor. On my chair was a cover that looked like a happy snowman and there was a Santa carpet on the floor.

"Kaede must've done this while Rin and I were hanging up the lights outside," I thought to myself, then that's when I saw a plate with a Christmas cookie sitting on the table. The cookie looked like a Christmas tree, but it had a small heart right in the middle.

"Oh Kaede, thank you," I said quietly, I took a bite of it, "she makes the best christmas cookies ever."

"I'm glad you like it," said a voice from the doorway. I looked over to the doorway to see Kaede standing there with a smile on her face, "I made that cookie just for you."

"Thank you very much Kaede," I smiled, then I asked, "Did you do all this yourself?"

"I did," she nodded, "I did all of this while you and Rin were outside."

"I thought so. Well I have to say that you did a pretty good job, it looks wonderful - still I have to know, where did you get this little tree?"

"I got it from the Christmas store in the Megamall. When I saw that tree, I thought it would be perfect for our room - do you like this little tree Matthew?"

"Of course I do," I nodded, "it is perfect for our room..." it was then I noticed something on the little tree. Sitting on one of the branches was that little blue ornament with the little heart inside.

"I hope you don't mind if I put it on this tree."

"I don't mind at all, I think it looks great on our little tree here." I held out my left hand and she grabbed it with her right hand. Kaede came closer towards me until she had her head resting on my left shoulder and we stared at that little tree, after Kaede and I had plugged it into the socket. I have to admit for a small little tree, it can sure light up a room.

After a few minutes, I unplugged the tree, then we both went downstairs to join our friends for dinner.

Our friends stuck around a couple of hours after dinner and even helped wash the dishes. Then at around eight thirty, they all headed for their houses - all except for Monty, he was going to be sleeping over tonight.

After everyone had gone, Kaede and I went back into our room to get changed. While we were getting changed, we listened to some Christmas music on the radio.

"I just love Christmas," Kaede was saying.

"Yeah I love Christmas too, especially since I get to spend it with you honey."

Once again, Kaede blushed when she heard me say that, "for years, my parents had always ruined Christmas for me and because of them, I lost my Christmas spirit, that was until my first Christmas here with you Kaede - thanks to you, I was able to find my Christmas Spirit again. You made the holidays very special, just like you make everyday special."

"Oh Matthew," Kaede smiled as she walked up to me and gave me a big hug, I wrapped my arms around her as we did our usual hug.

We hugged for a couple of minutes, then we climbed into bed, "are you comfortable Kaede?" I asked kindly.

She nodded her head, "I'll see you in the morning Matthew."

"Yeah, I'll see you in the morning," I said as I winked at her, she giggled happily (I just love hearing her cute little giggle), "I love you Kaede."

"And I love you too Matthew," we then kissed on the lips for a minute, then after saying good night to each other, we closed our eyes and went off to sleep, dreaming about our first Christmas together.


	2. Shopping for the Holidays

Okay my friends, here now is part 2 of the Christmas special, starting on December 21st 2011. As you may know, when I did the 'My Kinda Life-Christmas Special', I never did write up what happened on Christmas Day 2009, so in this chapter, you'll get to see another flashback moment showing that day. That's all I have to say - enjoy!

_**Our Kinda Life-The Christmas Special**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Episode 2: Shopping for the Holidays**_

At around four thirty on December 21st, both Kaede and I were woken up by the noisy alarm clock, that thing is so darn annoying, but then again - all alarm clocks are annoying, right? I reached out to shut the darn thing off, but I never got to it - instead, it was Kaede that got it.

"Good morning sleepy head," Kaede said with a small little giggle.

"Good morning honey," I said happily, "did you sleep well last night?"

"I did," she nodded, "what about you?"

"I had a good night sleep too."

"Are you guys up yet?" we heard a young voice call out to us, "come on get up! It's Christmas!"

"It's only the 21st Little Sis!" I called back, I knew it was Naomi on the other side of the door. "I know you're excited about Christmas, but you're still going have to wait a few more days!"

We heard Naomi grunting and groaning as she walked away, "I used to do that all the time when I was younger," I chuckled, then I spoke seriosuly, "my parents said they found that quite annoying."

"That's mean of them to say."

"Yeah it was," I sighed quietly. I looked down to my wife as she layed there on her spot of the bed, then I rubbed the left side of her face with my right hand, "you feeling warm Kaede?"

"I am," she nodded, "thanks for putting the extra blanket on our bed."

"You're welcome."

Last night, I had woken up to find my sweet and beautiful wife shivering, so I went over to our closet and got one of the two blankets we have in there and I placed it on top of our bed sheets to keep her warm.

"I'm sorry for waking you up last night."

"Nah that's okay Kaede, there's no need to say sorry," as I was saying this, I was now running my fingers threw her hair, "I didn't mind being woken up. Besides, I don't want to see you get sick."

"Oh Matthew, you're always so kind to me."

"Except for that one time," I muttered, I was obviously thinking back to the night I yelled at Kaede (I know it was over two years ago, but I still regret yelling at that sweet girl, especially for something she didn't do).

Kaede and I wanted to stay in that nice warm bed this morning, but we knew we had to get up, and that's what we did. Kaede got out of the bed first, then I climbed out after that, then we got the clothes we wanted to wear today.

After getting changed, we walked off downstairs side by side. Today, I was wearing a red T-Shirt, dark blue jeans and light grey socks. As for Kaede, she wore a pink skirt with white outlines, a red skirt and dark grey socks.

We found Naomi in the living room, the TV was on, but she wasn't looking at it, she was looking at the tree.

"It's a beautiful tree," we heard her say, "this is my second year seeing one this close..." she didn't say anymore, mostly because she was crying. She stopped crying after a minute or so and wiped away her tears, "I'm okay!" she called out, "I know you two are standing near the doorway!"

"How did you know Naomi?" Kaede asked.

"I just knew," she answered while looking at the tree, "you know, the only times I ever got to see a Christmas tree was when one of our neighbours decorated a tree outside of their house. I remember when I was nine years old, I was working outside when I saw it, I asked Lance why our neighbours had put that stuff on the tree and he told me 'they decorate it for Christmas' and he told me about Christmas."

"He told me that one day soon, we would get to celebrate Christmas," Naomi continued, "and we did sometime before we made our big escape from that house. We had a very small tree in our cupboard space, it was covered with a few decorations Lance found in the garbage - oh and he gave me a wonderful gift."

"What was it?" I asked.

"He gave me a piece of cupboard cut into the shape of a heart with a little message that read 'to my favourite little sister, love Lance."

"Aww, that was so sweet of him," said Kaede, "but how did he make it? Did he tell you?"

"He said he stole one of our dad's pocket knives to cut it up - to this day, he's quite surprised that he got away with that without being punished," Naomi sighed unhappily, "I don't know what happened to it though, the last time I saw it was our last night in that house. I'll never forget what that big brother of mine did," she went quiet as she remembered when Lance gave it to her.

"So," she said after a minute or so, "what's for breakfast?"

"Well there's only for you to find out," I said with a chuckle, "why don't you give us a hand?"

"Sure why not," she said with a smile, "last one in the kitchen is a rotten egg!" And before either Kaede or I could say a single word, Naomi was off in a flash.

"I've said it before and I'll say it again - that girl is just one big bundle of energy isn't she?"

"She is," Kaede giggled as we walked over towards the kitchen.

With the three of us working on breakfast, we got it all set up by around six thirty, the same time Monty, Daisy and Primula came downstairs. Daisy and Monty were already in their school uniforms, but not Primula, she was still in her pajamas. Her cheeks were blushing bright red - which meant only one thing...

"I'm not feeling too good," she said.

Kaede walked over to her, then she felt her forehead, "you definetly have a fever, you should stay home today."

"Yeah, I guess so," Primula groaned quietly.

"Don't worry Big Sis," said Naomi, "I'll get you your homework before I come home."

"Thanks Little Sis," said Primula, and then let out a sneeze. Daisy was kind enough to give her a tissue to wipe her nose.

Primula stayed downstairs for breakfast, then after we were done eating, she went up back to her room to get some rest. Then once the dishes had been washed, Daisy, Monty and Naomi went off to meet up with Max and Marshall, who just arrived.

"She's not feeling well today," Kaede was saying to Max, "but don't worry, I'll look after her."

"Thanks Kaede," smiled Max, "before we go though, would it be okay if I go upstairs to see her."

"Ah better not," I answered, "she's probably sleeping right now, it's better not to distrub her right now."

"Good point, but can you tell her that I said that I'll come by to see her later?"

"Of course we'll tell her," said Kaede.

"Thanks Kaede," then he, Monty, Marshall and our two other sisters left for school. After they left, Kaede gave me my lunch and a quick kiss on the lips, then she waved to me as I walked out to my truck. As I walked out to the street, I noticed that Eustoma was taking down some of his decorations.

"Why is he doing that?" I asked.

"It's because the electrican told him to," another voice answered, it was Sia. She was shovelling snow away from the pathway in her yard, "he said that if my dad keeps all those lights up or adds anymore, then he'll blow a fuse again." Even as we talked, we could hear Eustoma grumbling, "as you can tell, he's quite upset with this - now he may not win the compitation this year - which would be a relief for us if you know what I'm talking about."

"Yeah I do," I nodded.

It was then I noticed that Kaede was coming out, "I'm sorry Matthew, I gave you the wrong lunch box - that was Rimu's lunch. This is your lunch," she said as she held out another wrapped up box.

"Thanks Kaede," I said as I gave her the other box, "now remember, if you need anything, just give me a call okay?"

"Okay Matthew," she nodded.

She walked off back to the house, as she was walking along, I waved to her until she was back in the house.

"I think you or Rina might have a chance of winning," said Sia, continuing our conversation from before.

"Well you never know Sia - although I think Nerine and her family have a better chance of winning than us. Anyways, I better get off to work, I'll talk to you later."

"Yeah, talk to you later Matthew!" she called.

I got into my truck, started it up and then drove off to work.

After the long day at 'Tech Corner', I went off to the mall to do some shopping. I stopped at the book store first to get a couple of manga books for Naomi, and an adventure novel by 'Eric Wilson' for Lance, (he's a huge fan of adventure novels). Then I went to another store to get some perfume for Daisy and a white dress, it looked so close to Kaede's favourite white dress. For Max and Monty, I got them a couple of music CDs, and while I was shopping at the same store, I got Marshall a 'Linkin Park' CD (according to Naomi, Marshall is a huge fan of 'Linkin Park'). Then I got Primula a new sweater and another toy cat.

Once I got all those gifts, it was time for me to start looking for something to get Kaede. The first item I got for her a blue sweater with two big hearts on it, on the front and on the back, "I know Kaede will love this," I thought to myself. When I reached the counter, I saw something very special. For there was a ornament that had not one, but two hearts on it - both of them attached to each other. So I decided to get that one too.

After buying those gifts, I was ready to go home - or so I thought, I heard my cellphone ring, "Hello?" I asked as I answered the cellphone.

"Hi Matthew, it's me."

"Hey Kaede, listen I know I'm a little late getting home, I was just doing some shopping - I'm on my way now."

"Actually before you come home, can you pick something up for me?"

"Sure honey, what do you need me to get?"

"Well I was wondering if you could pick up some chicken noodle soup for Rimu. I just checked the cupboard and we're all out of Lipton's Chicken Noodle soup."

"Well of course I'll get some soup before I come home," I answered.

"Thank you Matthew, I'll see you in a while."

"Yeah, I'll see you in a while Kaede."

After putting my phone back into it's protective holder, I walked out to my truck, placed the gifts in the back seat, then I drove off to the grogery store.

I got what I needed from the grogery store, then I headed off back to the house.

When I arrived, I went upstairs to see if Primula was okay. I knocked on the door, "you can come in!" I heard Kaede call.

I turned the doorknob and walked in, "so how are you doing Primula?"

"I'm feeling a little better," she said with a stuffy voice, "but I'm still not feeling well."

"You'll get better soon," Kaede said kindly.

"That's right," I said with a smile, "all you need is some rest and you'll get better," I then looked over to Kaede, "I got you a few boxes of Lipton's Chicken Noodle soup and I also got some ingredients for chip dip," I added with a chuckle, "I got a lot this time, remember what happened last time we had it."

"Little Sis ate it all last time," coughed Primula.

"That's right - at least this time we'll be able to have some this Christmas."

"And what's in those bags?" Primula asked while letting out a big yawn.

"You'll have to wait for Christmas day to find out," I said with a wink, "now I think you need to get some rest, we'll come up later with some soup for you."

"Okay," Primula said as she layed back down and went off to sleep. Kaede and I walked quietly out of the room and closing the door gently, all the while, making sure not to wake Primula up.

After Kaede helped me put the grogeries away, I went up to our room to wrap up all the presents. Then after I was done that, I brought them back downstairs and placed them under the tree, then I went into the kitchen to help Kaede get started on dinner.

The next day, Al and I were busy all day with tonnes of demostrations. We would talk about snowplows and snow blowers - with those machines, we showed everyone how to use them and how to be careful with these machines. In the audience today were Al's wife, Sana and their little girl Yoshida (who is a year and a half old now), they were sitting in the front row, Itsuki and Mayumi (today, Mayumi had a couple of pony tails on both sides of her head), were sitting in the back row of the stands. Also sitting in the front row were Michael and Sakura's baby sister, Rose.

Once the show was done for the day, Al, Sakura and I went up to the stands to see our friends.

"Did you enjoy the show Rose?" Sakura asked her baby sister.

"I did, it was great! Sakura, are you going to be on the show tomorrow?"

"I sure am," she smiled.

"I'm looking forward to seeing ya on the show girl," Michael said kindly to her. Sakura blushed when she heard that.

As for Al, he was talking with Sana and his baby girl, "did you enjoy the show sweetheart?" he asked his daughter. Yoshida started cheering for joy.

And me, I walked up to where Mayumi and Itsuki were sitting, "hey you two, how are you doing?"

"We're doing quite well," smiled Mayumi, "Itsuki and I are just so excited for Christmas, for it's the first one we get to spend together since we've gotten married."

"It's true," smiled Itsuki, "so Matthew, have you guys decorated your house yet?"

"Yep, we decorated the whole house yesterday. What about you two, have you decorated your apartment yet?"

"Well we got started yesterday," Mayumi answered, "but we need to get a few more decorations...and a tree too," she added with a nervous chuckle, "we haven't gotten one yet."

"We'll be getting our tree when we go to the megamall this afternoon," said Itsuki, "plus, our families have offered up some decorations for us to use for our place."

"That's nice of them to do that," I said, "my parents never did that, they kept all the decorations for themselves."

"And didn't you say before that your parents usually ruined Christmas for you every year?"

"Sadly yes," I sighed unhappily, "But that's all in the past. I enjoy spending my Christmas with such wonderful friends and with the girl I love."

"Speaking of Kaede," Mayumi spoke up, "shouldn't you call her and her know you're on your way back? You don't want her to worry now do you?"

"Definetly not," I smiled as I brought my cellphone out of it's holder, "I'll give her a call right now," and that's what I did. I told Kaede I was talking with Itsuki and Mayumi and that I would be home soon. "Well I guess I better head out, I'll see you two later!"

"See you later Matthew!" they called to me.

I was halfway down the stairwell when I heard, "you're not going to say hello to your bro?" It was Michael.

"Actually I was just about to say hello to you too Michael...and to little Rose too," Rose was waving to me, "so how are you guys doing?"

"We're doing great," Rose answered in a cute way, "our tree is up, there are presents sitting underneath it, I love Christmas!"

"Don't we all," Michael chuckled.

"So where's Sakura?"

"Oh she's getting herself ready to go, then all three of us are going over to Santa's Village," both Michael and I looked over to Rose, she was sitting still, but she looked like she was going scream out in a happy way, "just be patient Rose, we'll be going soon."

"Actually we'll be going now," I looked behind me to see Sakura with her red jacket on, "are you two ready to go?"

"Ya bet we are," smiled Michael, "ready Rose?"

"Yep," she said happily as she excepted Michael's hand, then the two followed Sakura down the flight of stairs and out of the studio. Al, Sana and Yoshida left a minute later, along with Mayumi and Itsuki. I was the last one to leave, I locked up the doors, got into my truck and drove on back to the house.

When I arrived, I found Naomi and Marshall firing snowballs at the twins, Max and Monty, it was clear that they were having another snowball war. I simply walked past the battle and walked inside the house.

"Is that you Matt?" called a voice from the kitchen.

"Yeah Daisy it's me! I know I'm a little late, but I was talking with Itsuki, Mayumi and Michael."

"It's okay Matt, you don't need to say sorry."

I walked over to the kitchen to see my little sister pouring some soup into a bowl, "so how's Primula doing?"

"She's doing quite well, her fever is going down - there's a good chance she could be going to school tomorrow. And if you're wondering where Kaede is, she's upstairs in your room and she's asked me to keep you down here until she says you can come up."

"Alright then, thanks for telling me that - so, how long has that little snowball war been going on for?"

"Ever since we got home. Last time I checked, Marshall and Naomi were losing the little snowball war. How were they doing?"

"Quite well - in fact, I'd say they're beating the twins out there."

"Really? In that case, once I get this soup up to Rimu's room, I better get outside and help the twins." Once the bowl of soup was on the tray, Daisy walked out of the kitchen and up the stairs, just as Kaede was coming down the stairs with several presents in the bag.

In a minute or so, she came into the kitchen to see me, "did you have a good day at work?"

"I sure did, although I missed you all day."

"Well I missed you too," she said, then she gave me a hug, and of course I hugged her right back.

"I'm sorry I'm a little late getting home, I was just talking with Michael, Itsuki and Mayumi for a bit," Kaede and I continued to hug for a couple of minutes before we seperated. She walked over to the stove while I stood near the counter, "both Mayumi and Itsuki were saying that they're excited for the holidays, mostly cause it's the first one they're spending together as a married couple. I bet they're just as excited as we were back in 2009, do you remember that?"

"Yes, I remember that," she answered happily.

I never did tell you guys about that day, so I'm going to tell you now. In the early hours of December 25th 2009, I was the first to wake up. I awoke to see Kaede still fast asleep. I moved forwards and gave her a small kiss on her forehead.

"Good morning Matthew."

I looked down to see that Kaede was now wide awake, "oh good morning Kaede, Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas Matthew. What time is it?"

I looked over to Kaede's clock, "it's five thirty," I answered.

"We'll wait another thirty minutes before we get my dad and Rimu up," said Kaede, "in the meantime, would it be okay if we stay here like this?"

"Of course it's okay." At this time, I still had my arms around Kaede, I started to rub her back softly and running my fingers threw her soft hair. While I did this, Kaede rubbed my back slowly and softly. We stayed like that till around six when we got out of the bed and went to get Mr. Fuyou and Primula up.

Soon, all four of us (remember, this was before Naomi and Daisy came into our families) were gathered in the living room. Kaede opened her father's gift first, which was a set of light blue gloves and underneath those ones was a music CD with Christmas love songs.

"Oh thank you daddy, I love these gifts."

"You're welcome sweetheart," he smiled.

"Here Matthew," said Primula as she handed me a gift, "I got you this last month." I unwrapped the wrapping paper and revealed - an Ipod, "I hope you like it."

"Of course I like it, thank you Primula, this is real sweet of you."

Kaede gave a present to her father next, her gift to him was a breifcase, "I know your old one was destoryed when you were involved in that accident," she said, "so I got you a new one."

"Oh thank you Kaede, that was sweet of you."

Of course, Kaede liked the gift I gave her (in case you've forgotten, it's a story of us as kids), but was only one of the many gifts I gave her. I also gave her a pendant that had a message inside reading 'To Kaede, the girl I love with all my heart and soul, Love Matthew'.

"Thank you Matthew, I love these gifts."

"You're welcome Kaede," I smiled.

Primula opened up a gift next, she got a stuffed bear, which was a gift from Kaede, "thank you Kaede, I love it," she said happily.

"You're welcome Rimu."

After another nine minutes or so, we had unwrapped all of our gifts - all except for one, "this one is for you Matthew," Kaede said kindly, "I got this just for you."

I unwrapped the gift and looked at it, I smiled and I nearly cried, for there was a picture of Kaede and myself, taken on our first date and with hearts surronding our picture.

"Thank you Kaede, I love this."

I got up from my seat and walked up to her, then I gave her a hug. Tears fell from my eyes, "what's wrong Matthew?"

"Nothing is wrong. As you know Kaede, I never really enjoyed the Christmas holidays because of my parents. Today though, I'm happy to be spending the holidays with you - the very person who saved me when I fired, disowned and would soon be homeless, someone who cares for me for who I am and someone I love with my heart and soul. I love you so much Kaede."

Kaede smiled and said to me, "I enjoy spending the holidays with you too Matthew, for you were the one who saved me when I shut everyone out of my life, you were there to cheer me up and to help me smile again. You like me for who I am and I love you with my heart and soul."

"How sweet," Primula whispered quietly.

"How beautiful," Mr. Fuyou whispered in agreement.

"I love you too Matthew," said Kaede.

Kaede and I stared into each other's eyes, then our lips connected as we kissed. Tears were pouring down from our eyes, but like so many times before, they were happy tears. We were just happy being together.

"Yeah Big Sis told me about that Christmas day," said another voice, Kaede and I looked over to the doorway to see Naomi and Marshall walking into the kitchen, "I hope we didn't surprise you, but we were just coming in after beating Max and Monty and we overheard your story."

"Tis a beautiful tale I might add," said Marshall.

"Well thanks Marshall," I said.

The twins came in a minute later, "fine you two win this time, but just watch out, we'll get you next time," said Max.

"Oh no, am I too late to join in?" Daisy asked.

"Afraid so," groaned Monty, "but don't worry, you can help us out in our rematch with those two tomorrow afternoon."

"You guys can try all you want," Naomi boasted, "but there is no way you can beat us, isn't that right Marshall?"

"Ya got that right baby," he said with a smile as he rubbed Naomi's hand softly with his thumb. Kaede and I didn't say a single word, we just listened in to their conversation while holding hands the entire time.


	3. Together for the Holidays

Here now is the third part of the Christmas special, this chapter's date starts on December 23rd 2011. Anyhow, I hope you will enjoy reading this chapter cause I sure had a lot of fun writing it up. Rating is still the same, and this chapter is dedicated to all my friends online and in real life. Enjoy!

_**Our Kinda Life-The Christmas Special**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Episode 3: Together for the Holidays**_

It had been snowing again the night before, so before I went off to work, I cleared the sidewalks of snow and putting down plenty of salt to make sure nobody would slip on the ice. When I was done, I went back inside to eat breakfast. If you're wondering about Primula, she's still sniffling, but she's well enough to go to school.

"Breakfast was delicous Kaede," Primula said kindly, "Thank you for making it."

"You're welcome," she said happily.

Once there was nothing on our dishes, Daisy and I worked together to clean them, then all six of us (and that's including Monty) walked over to the doorway. Today, Kaede was coming with me to the set cause she wanted to see our Christmas show live.

"Have a good day you six," said Kaede.

"We will," Marshall, the twins and our sisters said in unison. Then we watched as they headed off for school. Once they were out of sight, Kaede and I headed out to my truck.

"Hey Matthew, hey Kaede," we heard a couple of voices call out to us. We looked and saw who the voices belonged to - it was Dave and Daryl, the Sutton Twins.

"Hey you two, what are you guys up to?" I asked.

"Hmm, about Five foot Nine," chuckled Daryl. Dave, Kaede and I just chuckled when we heard that.

"Seriously though," said Dave, "we're doing quite well, we both the day off today - so we both decided to spend some time with the girls we love."

"That's so sweet," Kaede smiled.

Dave looked over to Sia's place, "hmm, they don't seem to have a lot of lights out, I wonder why."

"The electrican told them that they can't have too many lights out, otherwise they'll blow the fuse again."

"Again?"

"Yep, again," I said and so I told them everything about Eustoma blowing the fuse because of his lights. "As you can guess, Sia's father is not too happy about it - so you might want to watch out around him Dave."

"Yeah thanks for the warning," he said nervously.

"Hi Daryl!" we heard Nerine call from behind us.

"Hi Nerine. Talk to you later," he said and walked off happily towards Nerine, they stopped face to face and then they hugged. We said good bye to Dave and Daryl, then we headed off for the set of 'Tech Corner'.

When we arrived, we heard someone call out to us, "hi there!" it was a young little voice. Both Kaede and I looked over to the stands and saw who said that, it was our young friend Katie and she wasn't alone, her adopted father, Damon Drake was there along with his wife, Koyuki.

"Let me guess, you got the day off today, am I right?" I asked.

"It's not just one day off, I got an entire week off," Damon said with a smile on his face, "at least now I can spend the holidays with my wife and daughter."

"That is wonderful," Kaede smiled as she looked down to Katie, who was smiling happily.

"So how are you two doing?" Koyuki asked.

"We're..." Kaede started, but then groaned a bit. She placed her hand on her stomach - "it's kicking again Matthew," I placed my hand on her stomach, I could feel it kicking.

"How adorable," smiled Koyuki, "so do you two know if it's a boy or a girl?"

"At this time, we don't know just yet, but we will when we go for the Ultrasound."

"Hey Matthew," called Al, "do you mind giving me a hand here?"

"Sure thing Al," I called back, "I better get to work, I'll see you later honey," I kissed Kaede on her forehead, then I went to join Al.

Ten minutes later, we were on the air and live. Our first topic of discussion was great holiday gifts for those last minute shoppers, then we talked about Christmas lights, on trees and outside, "here's an important thing to remember everyone," said Al, "if you're going out for a while, make sure you turn off your lights."

"Otherwise, left unattended, your lights could set your tree and house ablaze," I added, "we happen to have a video made to show you just what happens if the lights are left unattended. Sakura! Can you bring out the Monitor?"

"Sure thing Matthew," she called from back stage.

Sakura came out with the Monitor and turned it on - it showed a Christmas tree, with it's lights on, left unattended, "you see folks," said Al, "just one really hot lightbulb could set your entire tree - or house as it's shown here on this film, up in flames."

"So like Al said, make sure you turn off your lights when you're out of the house or if you're not in the same room your tree is in."

Next up, we showed some holiday toys the whole family would love, (this part was a crowd favourite). Next, Michael came out along with Lisa, Ryan and Patrick to do a live performance of the song 'I'll Be Home for Christmas'. Then as the show came to an end for the day, Al and I handed out gifts to the audience.

After cleaning up the set, Kaede and I headed off back to the house. When we got in, we heard the phone ring, "I'll get it," Kaede said as she ran over to the phone, "hello? Oh hi daddy, yes we're doing quite well. You'll be coming home tomorrow night? Oh that's wonderful! Okay daddy, we'll see you then. Okay, bye."

"So what did your dad have to say?" I asked.

"He said he was coming home for Christmas, isn't that great?"

"It sure is," I smiled, but that smile didn't stay for long, "I know my parents will never come here for the holidays." Although I had been muttering, Kaede heard every word, she knew that the last time I saw my parents - things didn't go so well and because of that, we haven't spoken to each other since then.

"Ah Matthew," Kaede said, breaking the silence, "could we go to the grogery store, there's some things I need for tomorrow night's dinner."

"Of course we can go Kaede," I answered, "and if it's okay, I was wondering if we could also get some cinnamon buns for Christmas day. I never told anyone this, but for a couple of Christmas', I used to bake some cinnamon buns when my parents were out of the house. So is it okay?"

"Of course it's okay," she answered with a smile on her face.

When our sisters came in, we told them we were going over to the grogery store, then we headed out.

As we drove along, we could see dark grey clouds in the sky, "looks like we're going to be getting more snow tonight," I was saying to Kaede, "did your father tell you of what time he's going to be coming in?"

"He said he would be coming at around noon tomorrow. Why do you ask Matthew?"

"I'm just being curious," I said, "plus I heard we're suppose to get a snowstorm tomorrow night, so it's a good thing your dad is coming home at noon."

We soon arrived at the grogery store and oh boy was that place ever busy. Anyways, I pushed the cart around the store while Kaede got all the stuff we needed. As we walked along, our cart ended running into another cart.

"Opps, sorry about that, are you alright?" I called.

"Yes I'm okay, thanks for asking," said a cheerful voice.

Kaede and I looked to see whose cart we ran into, it was Ms. Ama's cart, "oh I'm sorry about this Ms. Ama," I said apologetically, "I didn't mean to run into you, I just wasn't watching where I was going."

"It's okay Matthew," she said happily, "there's no need to say sorry," she then looked down to our cart, "there's enough food there for a party."

Kaede and I looked at each other confused, "didn't Asa tell you?" Kaede asked, "we're having a party tomorrow night."

"I'm sure Asa just forgot," said Ms. Ama, "she's been quite busy lately with work and decorating too," she added with a giggle.

"Yeah that's probably it," I said.

"Would you like to come to our party tomorrow night?" Kaede asked.

"Of course I would like to come, what time is your party?"

"It starts at three thirty tomorrow."

"Well don't worry you two, I'll be there," and on that happy note, Ms. Ama walked off to get her grogeries. Which is what Kaede and I did, we went back to getting our grogeries.

"Are we forgetting anything?" Kaede asked.

"I don't know - is Rice on the list?"

"Not this time," she giggled.

"Then I don't think we're missing anything at all."

Just to make sure, Kaede checked over her list one more time and asked me if we got everything on that list. Once we were done there, we went to the counter to pay for the grogeries, then we headed off back to the house.

The next morning, at around eleven thirty, Kaede and I were working in the kitchen, making sure that everything would be ready for the party tonight. Of course, Naomi tried to take a sneaky 'bite' of some of the food, but she was 'shooed' out of the room by yours truely, "you have to wait till later tonight Little Sis!" I said to her, "this is for the party."

"Oh okay," she groaned and walked out of the kitchen.

Less than a minute later, someone else came walking into the kitchen. Kaede and I gasped, for the person standing there was none other than...Kaede's father.

"Daddy!" Kaede cried as she ran up to her father and gave him a hug.

"Hello my little girl," he said happily as he wrapped his arms around her, "how are you and Matthew doing?"

"We're doing okay," she smiled, "what about you, how are you doing?"

"Well let's see, I'm happy to see my baby girl again and," he added with a chuckle, "I am exhausted after working so hard lately."

"Boy do I know that feeling," I said quietly.

Mr. Fuyou noticed all the food we were preparing, Kaede told him about the party, "it is okay if we have a party, isn't it?" Kaede asked her father, he nodded his head while still showing a smile.

"Hey Kaede, if you want to talk with your dad for a bit you can," I said to her, "I can finish up here okay?"

"Okay, but are you sure?"

"Yes I'm quite sure," I answered.

And with that said, Kaede and her dad walked off to the living room to talk. Once again, it made me wish I had a close bond with my parents like Kaede does with her dad, but I know it's just wishful thinking on my part.

"Hey Matt," I looked over to the doorway and saw who it was, it was my baby sister Daisy.

"Hey Daisy, say - where's Monty? I thought he was sleeping over again last night."

"He was," she answered as she walked over to the counter, "he's just getting changed right now, then we're going to meet up with Primula and Max and have a snowball war before our guests arrive. So what are you doing wonderful big brother of mine?"

"I'm just getting all the refreshments and food ready for the party tonight," I said while blushing, (I've never heard Daisy call me that before).

"Hey Matt, I have a question for you. For the music, is it all Christmas tunes, or is there a wide variety of music on those CDs?"

"It's a wide variety of songs...I think I know why you're asking me that question, you want to dance with Monty tonight don't you?" I asked. Daisy nodded her head, "well don't worry Daisy, there's more than a dozen love songs on those CDs, so you'll have plenty of chances to dance with Monty."

"That's great," she smiled.

And for the next few minutes, until Monty came downstairs, Daisy helped me with getting everything ready. When Monty came down, he helped out until everything was ready.

While we waited for our guests to arrive, after Max, Marshall and Lance arrived, we all got involved in the snowball war, except for Kaede's dad, he was resting up in his room. For the teams, it was Daisy, Monty, Kaede and myself aganist Marshall, Naomi, Max, Primula and Lance. Sure we were outnumbered, but we didn't mind at all - we were having too much fun.

Monty threw a snowball at Naomi, which hit her.

"Hit me baby will ya?" asked Marshall angerily, "I don't think so - take this!" and he threw a big snowball at Monty, which hit him in the face.

"Oh no you did not?" snapped Daisy, "here's one for you Marshall!" Daisy threw it at Marshall, which hit him.

"Nice shot sis," I said to Daisy, she smiled and winked at me.

I tell you though, the battle was intense. At first, our side was losing, that was until Asa and Rin showed up. They grabbed some snowballs and tossed them at our opponents.

Finally after thirty minutes of snowball fighting, we were done and...we won!

"Well that's a first," Marshall was saying after the fight was done, "I've never lost a snowball fight before," he then added with a chuckle, "I guess I can't say that anymore, nice work ya lot. I don't mind losing to ya guys, good job!"

"Can we go inside please?" Naomi asked while shivering, "I'm freezing out here!"

We didn't need to be told twice, we all walked inside the house where Kaede and Asa made some hot chocolates for all of us. "Here you go Naomi," said Kaede after a few minutes. She gave Naomi a blue mug of hot chocolate, "there's plenty of marshmellows."

"Thanks Kaede," Naomi shivered while accepting it, then she drank some of it, "I'm feeling better now."

"Well now that we're all warmed up, let's get this party started!" shouted Marshall.

And that's just what we did. Kaede turned on the sterio and our CD player, I placed the discs into the CD player and pressed the 'play' button - and within seconds, our party offically began.

In a matter of minutes, our living room was packed with all of our friends either dancing or talking with each other. During the party, Kaede and I actually learned something about Primula that we didn't know before - she is a 'Backsteet Boys' fan. Reason I'm saying this is because she was dancing when one of their songs was playing, I believe the song was called 'Everybody Rock Your Body'.

"It seems I learn something new about you everyday Primula," Max said to her during the dance, "how long have you been a 'Backstreet Boys' fan?"

"I've been a fan of theirs for four years," she answered and then went back to dancing.

"Hey Rin," Max called to him, "did you know this?"

"Nope, I never knew this," he answered.

The next song to play was 'You Are My Everything' by '98 Degress'. Primula was a little worn out from her previous dance, so she sat on the couch with Max while the rest of the couples danced, which did include Kaede and myself.

As you should guess, our guests loved the food Kaede and I made, so we often made more than a few trips to the kitchen to get more food.

"Can I ask you something Matthew?"

"Sure Kaede, what is it?"

"Did you ever have Christmas parties back in Markham?"

I sighed sadly, "no I did not Kaede. My parents always said 'no' whenever I asked if we could have a Christmas party - actually they said 'no' and a whole bunch of things I don't wish to repeat."

"But why wouldn't they let you have a Christmas party?"

"Ah...you know I never did ask them why, so I don't know why. Why do you ask Kaede?"

"I was just wondering," then she asked, "after the party, do you want to go see the tallest Christmas tree in the city?"

"Yeah I would," I nodded, "will you come with me Kaede?"

"Of course I will," she nodded while still smiling.

By now we had the food ready, so we walked off back to the living room just as the song 'My Wish' by 'Rascal Flatts' started up. We placed the food on the table, then I asked Kaede, "would you like to dance with me honey?"

"I would love to, dear," she said.

And so, with our cheeks blushing, Kaede and I wrapped our arms around each other, then we started dancing along.

"Oh la la!" we heard Kareha say.

"I'm not sure if I said this already," said Tsubomi, (Kareha's sister), "but those two are a wonderful couple."

"Yes, they are a wonderful couple," smiled Leah (who was visitng the city for a month), "I'm so happy for both of them."

Now I know what you're thinking, what about the Christmas dinner huh? Well, Kaede and I had that covered too, for we made dinner earlier today along with the snacks for the party.

"You serious?" Yukie asked us when we told her about the dinner, "seriously you two, you're doing too much tonight - you didn't need to do that for us."

"It's okay Yukie, we don't mind," I said, "Kaede and I like doing this. Am I right honey?"

"That's right Matthew," she nodded happily.

"Well okay," Yukie said with a smile, "That's real sweet of you guys to do this." Her little sister Shiori was quick to agree with her.

Alot of our friends said the same thing to us when we told them that we had prepared a dinner for them.

Before anyone could come into the kitchen, Kaede and I went in there to place the food on the table so that everyone could get what they wanted, kinda like a buffet. Before they ate, they thanked us for making it.

"You're very welcome," Kaede and I said in unison.

"Great minds always think alike," we heard Naomi call in a cheeky voice. Instead of getting those stern looks again, everyone laughed at what she said, which included Kaede and myself.

The party lasted until 8:30 when everyone had to go home - all except for Marshall, Max, Monty (who wanted to sleep with the girls they love tonight), Ms. Ama, Asa and Rin stayed to help us clean up before they headed off back to their place.

"Thanks again for inviting us to your party you two," Rin said to us before they left, "we had a great time."

"We sure did," Asa said with a smile on her face.

"You're welcome," Kaede said happily, "we're glad you had a good time. Have a safe walk home you three and Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas you two," Asa said and then added with a wink of her right eye, "don't worry about us, we'll be careful." They said their good nights to us, then they walked away.

By the time Kaede and I reached the town square where the biggest Christmas tree was standing, it was snowing very lightly. We knew though that the blizzard would soon arrive, so we brought the truck with us, just in case. There were tonnes of lights on it, there were also tonnes of ornaments on every single branch and an angel was sitting on the top branch.

"It's beautiful," Kaede smiled. I didn't say a word, I just stared at the tree, "are you okay Matthew?"

"Yeah I'm okay," I answered, finally breaking my vow of silence, "it's just that staring at this tree reminds me a bit of when I used to live in Canada." I then went quiet again, Kaede knew why as I had told her this before, she knew it was a little bit of an emotional moment for me. "You know Kaede, in 2008 - my dad was out all night at a bar drinking and didn't bother calling to let my mom and I know he wasn't coming home till midnight. She took her anger out on me, she shouted alot and said some things I do not wish to repeat."

Kaede was quiet, she had a feeling she knew what those words were, and so she didn't ask me to say what those words were.

"And so," I continued, "After she finally stopped yelling at me, I went out to see the tree - it was quite beautiful that I will say. Like I told you a couple of years ago, there was a star on that tree and so, I made my wish that I would find that one person who cared and could save my life, but what I didn't tell you is that after I made my wish is that I burst into tears."

"Oh Matthew," Kaede wrapped her arms around my right arm and placed her head on my left shoulder.

"I'm okay Kaede, especially since I'm here with you. You make me so happy every single day," I looked down to her stomach, "you and our child or children, you never know."

"And you make me happy every single day Matthew, you and our children."

Kaede and I stared each other in the eyes, then we kissed on the lips. The wind blew at us hard, but we didn't move - we continued to kiss for two minutes before we got back into the truck and drove off back to the house.

When we got back, the snow was coming down even harder than before. Our sisters, the boys and Mr. Fuyou were already asleep at this time, so we tip-toed up the stairs to our room. We got changed into our pajamas and then climbed into bed.

"Matthew, would it be okay if I sing to you before we go to sleep?"

"Sure Kaede," I nodded. I grabbed my Ipod from the counter and gave it to Kaede. She searched threw the list until she found the song she was looking for, then she gave me one end of the earplugs while she had the other end. She pushed the play button and then began to sing the song 'All I want for Christmas is You'.

_I don't want a lot for Christmas_

_ There is just one thing I need_

_ I don't care about the presents_

_ Underneath the Christmas tree_

_ I just want you for my own_

_ More than you could ever know_

_ Make my wish come true..._

_ All I want for Christmas_

_ Is you..._

_ I don't want a lot for Christmas_

_ There is just one thing I need_

_ I don't care about the presents_

_ Underneath the Christmas tree_

_ I don't need to hang my stocking_

_ There upon the fireplace_

_ Santa Cluse won't make me happy_

_ With a log on Christmas Day_

_ I just want you for my own_

_ More than you could ever know_

_ Make my wish come true_

_ All I want for Christmas is You..._

_ You Baby_

_ I won't ask for much this Christmas_

_ I won't even wish for snow_

_ I'm just gonna keep on waiting_

_ Underneath the mistletoe_

_ I won't make a list and send it_

_ To the North Pole for Saint Nick_

_ I won't even stay awake to_

_ Hear those magic reindeer click_

_ 'Cause I just want you here tonight_

_ Holding on to me so tight_

_ What more can I do_

_ Baby all I want for Christmas is you_

_ You..._

_ All the lights are shining_

_ So brightly everywhere_

_ And the sound of children's_

_ Laughter fills the air_

_ And everyone is singing._

_ I hear those sleigh bells ringing_

_ Santa won't you bring me the one I_

_ really need - won't you please_

_ bring my baby to me..._

_ Oh I don't want a lot for Christmas_

_ This is all I'm asking for_

_ I just want to see my baby_

_ Standing right outside my door_

_ Oh I just want you for my own_

_ More than you could ever know_

_ Make my wish come true_

_ Baby All I want for Christmas is you..._

_ All I want for Christmas is you baby_

_ All I want for Christmas is you baby._

"That was beautiful Kaede," I said when she finished, "you are a wonderful singer you know that?"

"Well I have you to thank Matthew, for it was you who taught me how to sing," we then kissed on the lips again for a minute and a half, "we should get some sleep, tomorrow's going to be a big day."

"Yeah," I happily agreed. Then I wrapped my arms around her and held her close to me, "are you feeling comfortable Kaede?"

"I am," she nodded, "I'll see you in the morning Matthew."

"I'll see you in the morning Kaede," I said as I winked at her, she giggled happily when I did that, "I love you honey."

"And I love you too dear...Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas," then I kissed her on her forehead. She blushed a small shade of red, then she kissed me on the right side of my face. Then we closed our eyes and went off to sleep, dreaming of the wonderful times we've shared ever since we first met.


	4. A Family Morning

Hello there loyal readers, it's ThomasZoey3000 here with a special chapter of Our Kinda Life to celebrate one year since the series had began. Although the second season isn't officially complete, I just decided to write this special chapter up. The date of this chapter is on Wednesday May 16th 2012, which means that this will be the first time the Gagnon kids will be seen and their names will be revealed too. Just a little note, there won't be many swear words included in this story and now here's the special one year anniversary special of...

_**Our Kinda Life**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Special Episode: A Family Morning**_

It was four twenty on the morning of May 16th, I was the first to wake up. I opened my eyes to see my beautiful wife Kaede sleeping and snoring very quietly. I just smiled at her before I looked over to the cribs to see our two of our kids sleeping, one however was awake and looking over to me.

I got up very quietly so I didn't wake Kaede up, then I walked over to the cribs. Our son; Thomas and our second daughter; Lucia were still sleeping, but it was young Zoey Gagnon that was up and reached out her little arms at me.

"Hey baby," I said sweetly with a whisper. I reached down and picked her up, I didn't say very much, but I was still smiling as she stared at me, "want to go over and see mommy?" I turned and walked slowly over to the bed, Kaede was still sleeping and snoring quietly.

Just to let you all know, we don't turn on our alarm clock at night anymore, reason is because we don't want to scare the kids in the morning.

"Hey Zoey, do you think we should get mommy up?" Zoey responded with a little happy giggle, "okay let's wake her up."

I nudged Kaede softly on the left shoulder and whispered her name. She slowly opened her eyes, "good morning Matthew," she yawned, "and good morning Zoey. How long have you been up?"

"I don't know how long she's been up," I answered, "she was up when I woke up a couple of minutes ago, she was just staring at us."

"Are Thomas and Lucia still sleeping?"

I looked back to the other two cribs, "yep, they're still sleeping," I looked down to Zoey, who was reaching out to Kaede. I carefully handed Zoey over to Kaede, who held our little girl close to her and rocked her very slowly.

"She's definelty got your eyes Kaede, they all do."

"Yes, and they got your smile Matthew..."

All of the sudden, we heard some loud music playing just down the hallway. The loud noise woke Thomas and Lucia up, they started crying, "darn it Little Sis," I groaned, "I'll be right back Kaede."

I got to my feet, opened the door and walked over to Naomi's bedroom. It seems though that it wasn't just Thomas and Lucia who were woken up, Daisy came out of her room, rubbing her eyes and yawning, "I see she still hasn't turned down the volume on her new alarm clock. Who's bright idea was it to give her that radio alarm clock anyways."

"Marshall," groaned Primula as she came out of her room, "he gave it to her at Christmas remember?"

"Yeah now I remember...and yet she's still not getting up."

"Oh she will when I get wake her up myself," I groaned, "if I've told her once, I've told her a thousand times already, turn down the volume!" I walked into Naomi's bedroom, turning down the volume and turning off her alarm. The little red head was still sleeping, "I don't believe this, Little Sis get up! Wake up!" I nudged her shoulders a few times before at last she opened her eyes.

"Hey Big Bro, what's up?" she asked sleepily.

"Well let's see, your radio alarm clock went off again which woke most of us up, which includes Thomas and Lucia, they were sleeping before your alarm clock went off."

"Sorry, I didn't think the volume was going to be that loud."

"If it's loud enough to wake us up, then yeah it's loud enough. Turn it down Little Sis. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going back to the bedroom."

I had just barely reached the door when I heard Daisy say, "she's fallen back to sleep again."

"You have to be kidding," I groaned.

"Don't worry, I know how to get her up. Rimu, fill up a small bucket with water and bring it back here."

"I think I know what you're thinking Daisy and all I can say is...I like the way you think." Daisy showed a small smirk and winked at me before I walked off back to the bedroom. When I returned to the bedroom, I found Kaede trying to calm Lucia down.

"It's okay Lucia, it's alright, daddy's gone to turn off that noise," she said in a soothing way.

"And I have," I whispered quietly. I leaned in and gave Lucia a small kiss on her little forehead, "I turned down the volume and turned off Aunt Naomi's alarm clock, so it won't wake you, your brother and sister up, okay sweetie?"

Less than a second later, we heard a loud scream and heard, "DAISY! What did you do that for?"

"Sorry Naomi, but it's the best way of getting you up," she giggled.

Instead of crying again, Thomas, Zoey and Lucia started laughing, which made Kaede and I laugh too. Naomi came walking into our room completely soaked from head to toe, "enjoy your bath Aunt Naomi?" I chuckled.

Kaede and the kids laughed too.

"Oh ha-ha, very funny," she laughed in a sarcastic way, "I'm glad you guys are having a good laugh over this. Daisy, I will get you back for this, I promise you that."

Daisy emerged in the doorway chuckling, "remember all those times you came into my room shortly I arrived and you blew an air horn in my face or slamming those symbols? Well, now this makes us even."

"Ha-ha," Naomi grumbled, again the kids just laughed, "now if you'll excuse me, I need to get a towel to dry myself with. And Daisy, thanks for wetting my bed."

"You're welcome," she giggled, "just remember Naomi, you asked for it! And for crying out loud, turn down the volume on your clock."

"Fine, I'll turn down the volume," she groaned. She turned and walked out of our room, grumbling under her breath.

"Same things never change around here," Daisy giggled, "well if you'll excuse me, I'm going back to my room to get changed, then I'll go downstairs to get started on breakfast."

"I'll give you a hand with breakfast Daisy," said Primula, "right after I get changed."

The two girls turned and walked off back to their rooms.

Later that morning, Kaede and I were in the living room watching a television show called 'Cowboy Builders' while Kaede was breast-feeding Zoey, "it's hard to imagine that there are people out there who would do something so terrible to such innocent people," I grumbled angerily, my attitude changed in a second though, "but it's good to know that there are people out there that are willing to help others and give these 'cowboys' their just desserts."

"Yeah," Kaede nodded.

We heard a knock at the living room door, "sorry to bother you two," we heard Primula call, "but there's someone here to see Matthew."

"Okay I'm coming," I called back to her. I looked over to my wife, "are you going to be okay until I get back?"

"Yes Matthew, I'll be okay."

"Alright, I'll be back in a minute." I got up from the couch and walked out of the living room, closing the door behind me. I walked up to the doorway to see who it was, "Al?"

Indeed it was Al, "hey Matthew, I just came by to see how you guys are doing."

"Well we're doing pretty good. I would take you into the living room to see Kaede and the kids, but...I can't at this time, she's feeding them right now."

"I understand perfectly. Oh and before I forget, Sana asked me to tell you guys that she says 'hello'."

"Well I'll tell Kaede that. So how are you guys doing at 'Tech Corner'?"

"Well we've been doing our best Matthew, although there are times when Sakura and I are running out of ideas and we don't know what to do for the show."

"But it's clear to see that you guys do come up with something interesting, cause Kaede, the kids and I are watching the show everyday and we think you both are doing a good job."

"Thanks Matthew, that means a lot to hear you say that."

"Hey Al," said Daisy as she came out of the kitchen, "it's been a while since we last spoke."

"Yeah it has been a while, but it's mostly because I've been a little bit busy lately."

"It's understandable. Hey, would you like to stay for breakfast? I think Rimu and I overdid it again this morning with making breakfast. So what do you say?"

"I would love to stay," he smiled, "I got some time before I have to get to the set."

"Alright, it'll be ready in a couple of minutes."

With that confirmed, Al followed Daisy into the kitchen while I walked back over to the living room to see how Kaede was doing. When I walked in, I found that Kaede was breast-feeding Lucia now while Zoey was in the play-pan we have in the living room.

"Who was that at the door Matthew?"

"That was Al, he just came by to see how we were doing," I answered as I walked over to the play pan and picked up our little boy.

"Well it was nice of him to come by and say hello."

"Yeah it is, oh and he said that Sana said hello."

Before Kaede could say another word, we heard a knock at the door, "hey you two," it was Daisy, "breakfast is ready. Are you going to eat in the living room or are you coming into the kitchen."

"Ah...we're going to eat in here Daisy," Kaede answered, "I'm still feeding Lucia and I still have to feed Thomas."

"Alright then, I'll go get your breakfasts and bring them back to you."

"Hold on a second Daisy, I'll give you a hand with that," I said as I placed Thomas back in the play-pan, "I'll be right back Kaede."

I walked with Daisy back to the kitchen to get our breakfasts, then the two of us walked off back to the living room, "I'll open the door for you, then you can go in," said Daisy.

"Alright, thanks Daisy."

"Hey, what are little sisters for?" she smiled as she turned the handle of the door and pushed it open.

I walked into the living room, closing the door softly with my foot, then I walked over to the table/train set and placed the plates on the table. "Oh, Lucia's had enough," said Kaede, "now it's Thomas' turn."

"Here Kaede, I'll take Lucia back to the play-pan, then I'll get Thomas for you. Remember, a husband is suppose to help his wife when she needs his help."

"Thank you Matthew."

She handed Lucia over to me, then I took her back over to the play-pan, "okay little guy, it's your turn to be fed." I reached down and picked up our son, then I brought him over to Kaede. Just as I was handing him over to Kaede, I heard a few light whimpers from the play-pan, it was Zoey. "Hey little girl, what's wrong?" I asked sweetly, "do you have gas?"

I reached down, picked her up and held her close to me. I patted her on the back very gently. After a few seconds, I heard a little burp and as for the whimpering, it stopped.

"It was gas," said Kaede.

"Yeah," I nodded, "just gas." It was then I felt a small little kiss, coming from Zoey. She was kissing on the right side of my face, "I love you too baby."

After a few minutes, Thomas was full and was back in the play-pan with Zoey and Lucia, "they're so cute," Kaede was saying while we ate.

"Yeah they are," I nodded happily before taking a bite of our breakfast.

We heard quiet knocks at the door, "can we come in now?" we heard Naomi call.

This was followed by Primula saying, "Little Sis!" she said firmly to her.

"What? I'm just asking!" she said in protest.

"Yeah you guys can come in now," I called back to them, "Kaede and I just eating right now and the kids are in the play-pan. Come on in!" Naomi walked in first, followed by Daisy, Primula and Al followed close behind.

"Little Sis, I believe you have something to say to the kids," Primula said with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah I do," she sighed. She walked up to the play-pan, got down on her knees and spoke to the kids, "I'm sorry if I woke you three up this morning, I didn't mean to scare you. It's just that...well, I was just up late again last night, so I turned up the volume to help me get up, but it only woke you up. So again I'm sorry again kids."

All of them reached out to her with their right hands touching the net. Naomi raised her hand and placed it on the net, "I'm glad you three forgive me for scaring you earlier."

"And I repeat, they're so cute," smiled Kaede. She turned towards Al, "when you see Sana, can you tell her that all five of us said hello to her?"

"I sure will," he smiled, "I'll tell her later tonight when I go home."

"Thank you," she turned to our sisters, "do you three have your lunches made?"

"Yep, Rimu and I made our lunches just before we got started on breakfast," Daisy answered. "Now is there anything you guys need? Cause we can always stop by the store to get those things for you."

"No we're okay, but thanks for asking Daisy."

"Alright, just checking..." before she could say anything else, we heard the doorbell ring again, "ah, that must be Max, Monty and Marshall. We better get going, we'll see you guys later okay?"

"Have a nice day," Kaede and I said in unison.

"See ya later," Naomi said, trying to sound a bit like Marshall, while she followed Daisy out of the room.

"Have a good day," Primula said as she followed along right after Naomi.

"Well I guess I better get going too," said Al, "I got to get to the set and help Sakura set up for today's show. I'll see you guys later and if you need any help, just give me a call."

"Sure Al," I nodded, "you have a good day and tell Sakura we said that to her too."

"I'll tell her," he turned and walked out of the living room towards the front hallway.

After we were done eating our breakfast, I took the plates back to the kitchen to wash them, dry them and put them away. When I was done there, I returned to the living room where Kaede and the kids were.

"I'm going up to take a bath," she said, "can you watch over the kids?"

"Of course I will," I nodded, "have a good bath."

"Thanks," she smiled and walked past me out of the living room.

I walked over to the play-pan and got down on my knees, sitting beside the play-pan, "hey there, it's daddy," I said with a sweet voice, "mommy will be right back okay? She's just gone up to take a bath."

Thomas was reaching out to me, "hey little guy, what do you want?" I reached down and picked him up. I saw him look over to the table, "you want to see the trains running? Well okay, I'll start them up for you."

Before that, I had to plug in the power cord into the socket. I put Thomas back in the play-pan for a second, walked over to the wall socket and pushed the plug into the wall socket, "okay Thomas, the train's are all ready." I went back to get him, then we headed over to the couch so that he could get a good view of the layout.

I reached down and turned the little handles and within seconds, the trains were running around the layout.

Thomas enjoyed watching them go all around the layout and truth be told, so did Zoey and Lucia.

"You really like this huh?" I asked them, "well maybe one day I'll build a bigger layout and then all five of us can play with it together, would you like that."

Thomas gave me a hug as a way of saying 'yes'.

When Kaede came back down after having her bath, she could only smile as she watched us watch the trains. Thomas by now was starting to get tired, he let a little yawn, "oh, is it time for a little nap?" I asked sweetly. I got up from the couch and took him back over to the play-pan and lowered him into it gently, "sweet dreams my little boy," I looked over to the little girls, who were already asleep, "sweet dreams babys."

"Aww," Kaede said sweetly.

Of course the peaceful moment wasn't going to last as we heard some loud heavy metal music coming from one of our neighbours' house. That woke the kids in an instant, they were crying after being woken up like that.

"It's okay sweeties, it's okay," Kaede said as she tried to calm them down, "Matthew..."

"I'm already on it."

I had a strong feeling of where the music was coming from, "it's got to be Kikyou, she's another person who doesn't listen when we tell her something," I thought to myself.

I was of course right, the loud music was coming from Sia's house and it was coming out of the little speakers in Kikyou's portable Ipod speakers, "hey Kikyou, I know you like the music so much, but can you please turn it down, our kids are trying to sleep?"

Kikyou didn't answer back. I don't know if she couldn't hear me or if she was just being rude by ignoring me. The music didn't stop until...

"Enough of this already!" snapped another voice, who unplugged Kikyou's speakers from the Ipod.

"Hey, what's the big idea?" Kikyou snapped, "I was enjoying a good tune."

"Ah...right. Kikyou, you've been told by Matthew and Kaede several times already that you can't have your music on that loud, especially when their kids are trying to have a nap for goodness sakes."

"Fine, I'll turn it off," she grabbed her Ipod from Sia and walked back into the house, "I can't have any fun anymore."

"You can still have fun, but not by distrubing others!" She turned back towards me, "Matthew, I am so sorry about Kikyou, she really doesn't like to obey the rules, you know how she is."

"Yeah I do," I nodded in agreement, "just keep those speakers away from her for a while okay?"

"You got it, I won't let her touch these speakers for a while," she sighed quietly, "and people say that I'm the crazy one around here."

"Who says that?"

"Oh a few people have said that, mostly because of the way I act sometimes. Well anyway, I got to get back inside, I promised my mom that I would help with some things, I'll see you later Matthew."

"Yeah, see you later Sia."

Fortunately, by the time I came back to the house, Kaede had calmed the kids down and now they were sleeping like...well, babies.

"Well we won't need to worry about Kikyou playing that loud music for a while," I whispered to Kaede, "Sia took away her portable speakers. It's actually quite surprising that those little speakers can actually play music that loud...anyway, how are the kids?"

"They're okay," she whispered back, "after the music stopped, I was able to calm all three of them down and they went back to the sleep."

"That's good," I smiled, "Now, I'm going into the kitchen to get something to drink, is there anything you want me to get?"

"Yes, I would like a glass of water please."

"Alright, I'll get you a glass of water," I turned and walked out of the living room. I returned less than a minute later, "I hope you don't mind if I put in a couple of ice cubes."

"I don't mind at all," she said with her cute angel-like smile showing, I just love seeing her smile.

I handed Kaede the glass of water, then I walked up to the couch and sat down beside her to her right. We just sat there side by side, watching the TV (the show that was on at this time was...another episode of 'Cowboy Builders') and watching over our three kids as they slept, all the while we kept the volume down low on the television as to not wake them up.

The kids slept until the afternoon just before noon.

"Okay sweeties, I'm going to change your diapers, then it's lunchtime okay?" Kaede said to the kids.

"I'll give you a hand changing their diapers, then I'll go into the kitchen to make our lunches."

"Thanks Matthew."

Kaede reached down into the play-pan and lifted Thomas up, I reached down and lifted Zoey up. We brought them over to a little 'changing' table and started changing their diapers.

Once their diapers had been changed and after they had been fed, I walked to the door, but I stopped before I reached it. "I'll be right back," I said to Kaede and the kids, "I'm just going to make lunch for both your mommy and myself," then I added, "I love you all."

"And we love you too daddy," said Kaede. The kids all reached out to me, as if they all wanted to say, 'we love you too'.

I walked over to the play-pan and gave all three of them a kiss on their foreheads, then I got to my feet and walked over to my wife and kissed her...on the lips for almost a minute. After our kiss, I turned around and walked off to the kitchen, thinking to myself, "Life is so sweet!"


End file.
